A tremendous book, timely, wise, authoritative and clear. The world will fall on it like tired labourers falling on a tray of donuts Stephen Fry Free and Equal is a book of two halves. The first half is an admirably clear exposition of Rawls’ central ideas. It lays out his conception of a fair society: one in which basic freedoms are protected, genuinely fair equality of opportunity is secured, and, beyond that, the economic structure prioritises the needs of the most disadvantaged. It is perfectly pitched for a non-specialist audience, and I would happily assign the book as reading if I were teaching Rawls to undergraduates. Chandler highlights ideas easily missed or misunderstood in Rawls that are particularly salient today, like his emphasis on intergenerational justice and his recognition that economic inequalities are about power and status as well as wealth and income. A beautifully written and compelling argument that Rawlsian political philosophy can heal our broken societies and make us, indeed, free and equal Professor Sir Angus Deaton, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics and author of Deaths of Despair

If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month. A magnificent attempt to apply fundamental philosophical principles to the practical building of a better world. Far-reaching and well-evidenced, it offers a new, coherent, principles-based approach to policy design -- Professor Lord Richard LayardIf Rawls is the answer, what is the question? Free and Equal suggests that Rawls has a distinctive moral vision that can help shift our political priorities. But that doesn’t quite seem right. There are radical and destabilising ideas out there in philosophy that would change everything if we took them seriously: deliberative democracy, cosmopolitanism and longtermism, to name three. Rawls’ core ideas – that we should protect basic freedoms, promote equality of opportunity and improve the lot of the disadvantaged – do not represent such a radical break from the status quo. They are values most people from across the political spectrum would claim to believe in, even if they fail to put them into practice. The real challenge facing Chandler and Rawls, then, is whether the book can convince people to follow through on the things they profess to believe in. Rawls’ arguments may be cogent, but I have my doubts that they have the rhetorical force to inspire and motivate people to effect change. This is essential reading for anyone interested in the future of the left, and indeed the future of liberal democracy -- Jon Cruddas MP In this very timely and refreshing book, Daniel Chandler argues that rather than abandon liberalism we must reimagine it. Free and Equal asks big questions about how human society should be organised, and offers answers all of us should take seriously, whatever our politics -- Jesse Norman MP This is a morally steadfast book, which liberalism's honest opponents should take for their target, and which will enliven liberal theory and perhaps even reinvigorate liberal political practice -- Daniel Markovits

you are designing a society, but you don't know who you'll be within it - rich or poor, man or woman, gay or straight. What would you want that society to look like? While the impact of John Rawls’ work on (English-language) political philosophy in the post-war era can hardly be overstated, the same cannot be said of the sphere of public policy. Why is it so has probably a lot to do with both the complexity and rather theoretical nature of the argument, which can be quite puzzling - I remember one conversation with a prominent economist and deputy governor of a central bank in my home country about how “he is fine with the more philosophical approaches to social policy, like from Amartya Sen, but always gets lost around Rawls”. I don’t blame him. Chandler highlights ideas easily missed or misunderstood in Rawls that are particularly salient today, like his emphasis on intergenerational justice

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A brilliantly eloquent, incredibly insightful reimagining of liberalism, and by such a compelling writer -- Owen Jones